City of York Council is supporting a new campaign, 'Love Food hate Waste', that reveals consumers are throwing away a staggering third of the food they buy in the UK - most of which could have been eaten.

The statistic follows pioneering research undertaken earlier this year by WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which shows that for every three bags of food shopping we bring home, we effectively put one straight in the bin.

The campaign was launched earlier this month (1 November) by celebrity chef and presenter Ainsley Harriott who said: "The amount of food we throw away is criminal and we all need to take action and start changing our behaviour. That's why I'm supporting Love Food Hate Waste."

The 'Love Food Hate Waste' campaign has been created to raise awareness of the problem and provide information on what simple steps can be taken to combat the problem, which has a significant environmental impact.

Most of the food thrown away ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. In addition, the embedded energy used to produce, package, transport and store food which could have been eaten, but instead ends up being thrown away, produces the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

WRAP believes that action on food waste would deliver big environment benefits.

Dr Liz Goodwin, WRAP Chief Executive, said: "If we could all halt the amount of potentially edible food being wasted in this way, we would make a big impact - the same as taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads."

The campaign is also fully supported by the Women's Institute, who are launching their own 'Love Food Champions' initiative, which will reach out to communities and provide on the ground support on how to minimise food waste across the UK.